Adolescence
by cam94509
Summary: T.K hated living with his mother. So he devised a plan to get kicked out of his mothers house, but nothing worked out quite as he expected. Takari. Rating is for single use of alcohol, and mild to moderate profanity. Story is now complete!
1. Prologue

Prologue: The Impulse

* * *

T.K's POV:

I pressed the stop button on Cody's phone, which I'd borrowed from him yesterday, today being the first day of Spring Break, laughing slightly to myself. I wasn't sure if I'd won or lost this time. Sure, I was free... But at what cost?

I could have known the price, known if I'd have to sleep out in the rain which currently pelted my head, if I hadn't acted on an impulse, and thrown my plans to the wind. Then again, I also would have had to wait an additional nine days to be free if I'd waited, and I wouldn't have had as strong an argument for the unaltered nature of the short sound clip I'd recorded of my mother kicking out of her house.

This way, at least, I could prove I wasn't a run away, I'd been doing exactly as my parent had asked me to. Whether or not she could actually legally kick me out was irrelevant; I was free now, or at the very least, free from her.

I remembered what had happened as I walked away from the place that had once supposed to be my sanctuary for the last time... Not that had been any kind of sanctuary in recent years. Not that it really mattered, I was free now. It had started with a conversation about me and my friend Kari going to a movie together.

"No." She'd said, firmly.

"Why not?" I asked, feverishly hoping she'd change her mind; if I couldn't talk to Kari, then my plans wouldn't really work. After all, I needed to know if I'd have somewhere to go, and my father's house was hardly within walking distance.

"Firstly, you aren't aloud to date until you are eighteen. Secondly, I don't like that girl, or her family."

My fist clenched, she'd just insulted my best friend, and her family, who I knew quite well. The only reason she disliked Kari was because my father, who my mother had divorced long ago, got along quite well with Kari's older brother, Tai, because Matt, my older brother, and Tai were best friends.

"It's not a date, and she's my best friend. Please, be fair." I said, having by now given up all hope of winning, and as I said 'be fair, I subtly shifted my hand in my pocket so my friend's cellphone began recording the conversation.

"No. You may NOT go to a movie with Kari." My mother said, decisively.

"Stop me." I said, trusting that my mother would over react, as I walked towards the door.

She did. "Takeru, if you so much as TOUCH that doorknob, you're not allowed back in my house."

I did, and she said, "Very well. You are not allowed in my house ever again."

"Fine." I replied, and left.

And that was how it had gotten this way. I realized now that I could have simply called Kari, before I'd cast the dice and gotten myself kicked out, but it was too late, as the dice were cast. Now, I'd be better off walking to her place and talking to her in person, at least that way I'd get to see a friendly face, which was support I very much needed.

And even knowing what I knew now, I wasn't sure I was wrong to simply walk away no matter what. I wasn't sure I could put up with another break living in my mother's household. She'd gotten to be incredibly restrictive; I couldn't date until I was 18, and I wasn't allowed to drive or have a cellphone. Or a computer.

Being 16, I was no child anymore, although I wasn't really an adult either. But this wasn't fair in the slightest. Apparently, I was mature enough to risk my life to save the world, as I'd done twice for two worlds, but I wasn't mature enough to use a cell-phone responsibly.

And it wasn't just that. Any one on one interaction I had with a girl, or two girls with me and another male were 'dates' in my mother's eyes. This meant me and my best friend Kari (who, I will admit, I would have LIKED to have dated), were not allowed to see each other, unless there were trustworthy adults around, and 'trustworthy adults' only meant my mother, as my mother trusted no one.

And recently, it had gotten even worse: I wasn't aloud to see anyone my mother didn't like. And me and my mother had VERY different tastes in people. That is to say, she didn't trust any of the Digidestined, and she didn't like any of their friends either. Which pretty much made up my circle of friends.

Now, there was one exception my mother had to disliking every Digidestined, even she couldn't manage to dislike Cody. That was mostly because everyone saw Cody as an honest, sweet, perfect little child. Cody liked it that way, it gave him far more flexibility (I vaguely envied him; it had never helped me). That said, Cody wasn't by any means irresponsible, but he wasn't perfect by any means. He had his secrets, most of which I didn't know, and he certainly was more then willing to help his friends get away with things, if, that is, he didn't have too much of a problem with what they were doing.

This was why I had Cody's phone at the moment, and also why I'd had an escape plan in the first place; because he'd assisted me, and because I knew he was trustworthy with secrets.

Indeed, I was willing to bet when Cody talked about greater flexibility granted by everyone seeing you as perfect was probably not just flexibility granted to him by adults, but also by his peers. After all, knowing that he was mostly trustworthy (and that he had a reputation to keep), had meant that I was willing to rely on him where I wouldn't rely on anyone else, even Kari.

And being reliable was a great trait to have in a friend... Especially someone who appears to be reliable to adults. So, it meant that Cody, who was actually physically rather weak (although he was skilled in martial arts, so he didn't have too much of a disadvantage when fighting), always had friends to stand up for him, and it meant he always had friends who he could ask for assistance, which I was sure was no end of useful, although I had no method of contacting my friends, so my friends has never been able to do much good for me... Well, excluding Cody, that is.

Now, I found myself at the door of Kari's house, and I rang the doorbell, hoping desperately that she'd be able to help me out... and that she'd be home, as the soaking rain was getting really old.

End Prologue


	2. Not Alone

Chapter 1:

Same POV:

A/N: This might have some errors in it... Either way, please review. I want to know what you all think!

* * *

I knocked, and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. And rang the doorbell. I mean, it was possible they could have not heard me knock, right? And then I waited patiently. And waited. And waited. And, after a minute or so of waiting, I realized Kari and her family were simply not here. I had the urge to just go home. To give up. To surrender, to admit I did not have the resources to make sure that I was taken care of.

But I realized that it was too soon to surrender. To soon to give up. I knew that if I could draw things out for a couple days, at the very least, I'd make my mother feel bad for what she'd said, and quite possibly panic her enough that I could at least regain some level of control. Plus, if Kari was only out for a couple hours, I could probably deal with being outside for a while, after all, I _was_ sick of being couped up.

The torrential, drenching rain, however, did not help my new resolve. I decided to call Kari, if she was going to be out for the rest of the day or longer, I would want to know so I can plan around that. I took Cody's phone out of my pocket, and checked the contacts, knowing that Kari would be there.

I was surprised to see the number of names there, but I paid them no attention; it was really none of my business in the slightest who Cody talked to. However, I stumbled upon 'Kari Kamiya' in his phone, and so I pressed 'call'.

Kari picked up after two _rings _of the phone.

"Cody?" She asked, sounding surprised.

"No, I'm just borrowing his phone for Spring Break. It's T.K". I explained, smiling to myself.

"Does he know your mom is almost certain to seize any phone in your possession like it's contraband?"

"That's part of the reason I'm calling. You see, I'm not going back."

"What?" She asked, surprised.

"Yeah. My mother kicked me out today, because I pushed her until she did so." I explained.

"Ah... And you were wondering if you could stay with me." She summarized.

"That's about the size of it."I laughed, glad that I didn't have to explain more.

"Sorry. I'm not going to be home for a couple of days, I'm visiting relatives."

"Ah well... I'll find somewhere to stay for a couple of days."In reality, I wasn't sure I could, but I wasn't going to give up.

"T.K... I'm not sure what you are doing is a good idea." She said, bluntly.

"Kari... Thank you for your concern." I replied, hinting as subtly as I could currently that, while I was grateful for her advice, I disagreed, and had made up my mind."

"Ah. Alright. Then I'll do what I can for you." She said, and then faintly to someone near her"No, I'm not _flirting_ with him, it's actually relatively important."

And then, she turned her attention back to me, saying, "Sorry, I'm in the car. Hey, can I talk to you later?"

"Sure. I'm not getting any closer to being dry talking to you right now anyway." I said, laughing slightly.

She hung up, and then I did so, sighing with discouragement at the problem I now faced. I was drenched from head to toe now, only having a phone, and the clothes on my back. Still not giving up, I called Cody on his home phone, as I currently had his cellphone.

It rang a few times, and Cody picked up (A fact of which I very grateful, I didn't particularly want to explain why I had Cody's phone).

"Hello, me." Cody said, and laughed.

"Thiiiiiiis iiiiiis yooooouuuuuur cooooonscience" I droned, trying not to laugh, but final breaking down laughing during the last syllable.

"Nice. What's up, T.K?" He asked.

"Think you can put a roof over my head for a couple days?"

"I can't, but I'm sure one of my friends can. Anything in particular you don't want to deal with?"

"Well, I'd rather not have to put up with a druggy." I said, laughing.

"Fine, I'll see what I can do... You're gonna want to get somewhere dry, it's going to be 15 minutes at least."

"Will do. I'll be at the junior high school, have the person who'll be picking me up call me when they are there." I said. I was going to the junior high because it was closer, and I desperately did want to get out of the rain.

"Alright... You mean, have them call my phone." He said, laughing.

"Your CONSCIENCE's phone, you mean." I said.

"Yeah, alright, whatever." He said, hanging up.

I ran to the Junior High, although running didn't really do me much good, as I was already drenched to the bone from head to toe.

I stood under an overhang, where I was mostly safe from the cold and soaking weather. Still, it wasn't perfect, as the wind was blowing towards me, so the rain still came down toward me, and thus the overhang provided only minimal shelter. I shook my fist at the grey sky from which the rain fell with anger, angry at them for wrecking my plans.

Of course, if the weather had wrecked my plans, it meant that I hadn't thought things through throughly enough, and I knew that. And, shake my fist as I might, I was still standing in the drenching rain, already soaked, waiting for my friend to find me a place to sleep for the night. I was starting to suspect Kari had been right; this was starting to look like it had been a really bad idea. Worse yet, I was starting to get hungry, and I was shivering like crazy.

After what seemed like an age, the cellphone in my pocket finally rang. The name on the caller I.D was 'Johnathan', which I instantly recognized as good news, because it meant that someone other than Cody was calling.

"Hello?" I said, picking up the phone.

"Hey. You're T.K, right?" The man on the other end said. He sounded 17 or so, and friendly, which was definitely good.

"Yeah." I said, feeling incredibly grateful.

"Alright. I'm in the parking lot, Cody told me about you."

"Thanks."

"No problem. I felt like I owed him one, and, to be honest, I've got an incredibly boring few days in front of me." Johnathan said.

Of course, that was how it worked for Cody. If he couldn't do something for you, he'd call a friend, who could. And because he did a lot for his friends, and his friends did a lot for his friends, everyone felt indebted to him, so they'd gladly help out. This made Cody very popular, and it meant that he could always get a favor if he needed it. In the end, everyone benefited from it, but Cody benefited most. Then again, Cody also put a great deal of time and effort into this, so it was only fair that he got the most out of it.

"Alright." I said, running over to the parking lot. There was a young man standing next to a relatively cheap looking car in the middle of said parking lot.

He looked 6' 1" (approximately 1 meter, 85 centimeters) or so tall, with messy brown hair, although I wasn't sure if his hair was normally messy, or if the rain had just messed it up. He waved to me, yelling "Your T.K, right?"

"Right." I said, and ran over to him.

"I'm Johnathan." He said, and extended his hand to shake mine.

"Nice to meet you." I said, and shook his hand.

He opened the doors to the car, and motioned with his hands for me to get in. I did, and he got in the on the other side. As we closed the doors, I experienced a sudden rush of relief, although I didn't feel completely safe yet. While I liked Johnathan instantly, I didn't really trust him yet. I mean, sure, I trusted Cody, but this guy WAS a complete stranger to me.

As I looked around the inside of the car, I realized that it was much nicer on the inside than on the outside. The cup holders had blue-LED lights in them, and the sound system looked as if it had been replaced.

"Nice." I said.

"Thanks." He said, smiling, "If your talking about the car, I modded it myself."

"Cool." I said, laughing.

"What kind of music do you like?" He asked, sounding excited, as if he didn't get to show of his car much.

"Pretty much, anything." I said, relaxing. This kid was clearly not dangerous, just lonely, and it wasn't as if he was an annoying kind of lonely, just people starved. Then again, considering the fact that I was going to be spending the next couple of days with this kid, I assumed he owned his place, which meant he probably lived alone, so I wasn't really terribly surprised that he was lonely.

"Alright." He said, "You don't mind if it's loud, right?"

"Not at all." I said, "In fact, louder is probably better."

He turned on the car, and turned the heat all the way up. I was grateful for the warmth, partly because I was so very cold. Then, he turned on the stero. What blasted out of the speakers was "Re-education through labor" by Rise Against.

I laughed, "Oh, you really meant LOUD, didn't you!"

"I can't hear you!" He shouted, over the music, he said as he began to back the car out.

"Whatever." I shouted over the music, reveling in the warmth of the car.

It wasn't very long until we arrived at the apartment where we stopped. The building was shabby looking, but I was getting to understand that Johnathan wasn't terribly wealthy, simply by the exterior of the car. Still, he had skills, and that was clear, too.

As we walked inside, he led me up to the third floor, where he unlocked one of the doors, and ushered me inside.

The interior of this space was much like the interior of his car, that is to say, it was at least nicer than the surrounding space. The entrance room was a sort of living room/ dining room, with what was clearly a dining table as couch, as well as a T.V and a set of gaming consoles, and a computer in the back corner. Next to the computer was something I recognized.

"You're Digidestined, too?" I asked, pointing at the Digivice.

"Yeah. You too?" He asked, looking surprised.

"Cody didn't tell you?"

"Cody doesn't know that I'm Digidestined. And I didn't know he was, either." Johnathan said, looking extremely surprised.

"Well, he is, and so am I. You don't remember one 'T.K Takashi?' at all?" I asked. I was pretty famous among the Digidestined, having saved the world twice.

"Wait, you're HIM?" Johnathan said, surprised.

"Yeah." I said, grinning.

"Nice... So Cody is _that_ Cody?" He asked, looking almost thrilled.

"Yeah."

"He's grown alot since then... and honestly, your a mess, and I've never seen you as the type to run away."

"So, why are you living on your own?" I asked, changing the subject slightly, but honestly curious.

"Parents didn't like the Digital world. They found out about it when I was thirteen. I had to sneak to get there until last summer... and then they found me one day and just kicked me out of the house. But, I'd made a little money modding my friend's cars, and so I made a business of it over the summer. Made enough money to live here for a year, and so here I am. After this, I've got a full ride at pretty much any college I want, so I'll be fine." He said, grinning.

"Nice."

* * *

End Chapter 1: Not Alone


	3. Vodka in a wine glass

Chapter 2: Vodka in a wine glass:

A/N: Is the formatting bothering you? That would be Google Docs fault. Ah well, at least I can write on two different computers without much trouble. There may be errors here, please tell me about them if you find them... Also, I blame fanfiction[dot]net for unindenting my paragraphs!

* * *

"Anyway, I've got to go, I need to get groceries, so I'll talk to you later, if you want to watch T.V, or use the game consoles, go right ahead." Johnathan said as he left.

I sat down on the couch, and turned on the T.V.

But I didn't pay any attention to it at all. I was too busy putting my head in order. Looking at a clock, situated directly above the T.V, I realized that I'd only left home forty-five minutes ago. It felt like it had been so much longer, but then again, that wasn't surprising. Everything had changed in the last forty-five minutes. Still, I was almost sure that it wasn't a good sign that I'd nearly given up in the first hour.

Still, I was out of the cold now. I had a roof over my head, at least for the next couple days, and I knew that I wasn't going to starve. Overall, I had everything I needed, and pretty much everything I could want: Decent company, because Johnathan managed that, something to entertain me, and my freedom. Without the last one, my running away wouldn't have been worth it. As it was, it was worth it.

I shivered, I was still cold, and my clothes were still a little wet. I knew that I probably should have waited until the sun had come out again, but it was too late for that now. Taking Cody's phone out of my pocket, I texted Kari, saying 'Am out of the rain, thanks 2 Cody. nother Digidestined let me room with him 4 the next couple days.'

Within a few minutes, she sent me a reply, saying 'Good. Was worrying about u out n the cold. Who is the Digidestined?'

I smiled involuntarily, comforted that Kari had cared enough to worry about me, texting her back, 'some kid named Johnathan. Never met him before, but he's pretty cool.'

This time, she replied fairly quickly, 'cool.'

I smiled to myself, turning my attention to the television. I didn't actually like what was on, some I took a look at what game consoles Johnathan had, and what games he actually had for them.

The selection was fairly limited, although I could understand that; what he had was an Xbox and a Nintendo Wii, with a couple of games for each, including a copy of Super Smash Bros Brawl. I knew how to play the game, having played it before with friends, so I decided to play it now, desperately needing SOMETHING to do.

So, I turned on the Wii (the game was already in), took a controller of the charger, and began the game.

I was awful at it, but even so, I managed to entertain myself for fifteen minutes or so by losing to the lowest level computer (which I set to play as a random character), while I played as Link. The only reason I stopped playing against the level one computer was not, in fact, because I got bored, but because Johnathan came back.

"Super Smash Bros, huh?" He asked as he came in, laughing slightly, proceeding to put the perishable food items into the fridge.

"Yep." I said.

"You any good?" He asked, right as I fell off the stage, and then laughed, "Apparently not."

"I'm awful, in fact." I admitted.

"Ah, well. I'll play you a round." He said, as he closed the door to the mini-fridge in the corner.

"Alright." I said, "Although you'll beat me."

I was right, he beat me without even trying hard.

"Rematch?" I asked, knowing I would only lose again.

Indeed, I did, but I kept trying, and losing, mostly because I was thoroughly enjoying myself.

After a couple hours of this (In which I had actually gotten significantly better, even beating him once), Johnathan said, "No rematch this time."

"Why not?"

"I'm going to a party." He said.

"Like, a birthday party" I asked, unaware of how naive I was being.

"No, like a PARTY party. You can come to, if you want."

"Oh." I said. Instinctively, I wanted to say no. After all, my mother had lectured me on how dangerous teenage parties were. So I said "Sounds cool."

It was out of spite. Out of malice. Out of pure and illogical rebellion. To some greater of lesser extent, I still wasn't free. Sure, I was constrained to rebel rather than to follow orders. But that made me no freer, in fact, I was quite possibly less free. But I wasn't thinking about it that way, not yet, at least.

As we got in his car again, Johnathan tapped me on the shoulder.

"Dude, this party is run by a nineteen year old in his own house. His parties are not always dry, or entirely clean. Can I ask a favor of you?"

"Sure." I said, not knowing what 'dry' meant in this case.

"If you decide to drink something alcoholic, limit yourself to one. One, you don't know your tolerance. Two, I don't want to have to put up with someone who is drunk."

Again, I instinctively wanted to say 'Oh, I won't drink anything.' After all, my mother had drilled into my head, again and again, 'alcohol is BAD'. She hadn't taught me anything about drinking beyond that, but that's what had been drilled into my head.

And, feeling the need to rebel again, I decided I WOULD drink something. Still, I also knew that if Johnathan was asking something of me, there was probably a good reason.

So I said, "Sure, works for me... Hey, I have a question. If I do drink, how long will I be drunk for?"

"If you limit yourself to one, it will take two hours to work it's way out of your system." He said.

When we arrived, I noticed that the building wasn't actually all that shabby.

"Who's the new kid?" A man standing by the door asked Johnathan. He looked to be somewhere between 18 and 20, and he was about as tall as Johnathan.

"Takeru Taikashi. My friends call me T.K." I said.

"Pleased to meet you." He said, "This is my place. My name is Aaron."

"Alright." I said, shaking his hand "Pleased to meet you."

The first room I entered was the living room, which Aaron had apparently turned into a dance floor, with a number of lights.

It was the first time I'd even seen a dance floor in my life; after all, my mother had thought that 'Public school dances were places were drugs were rampant'.

The music was louder than I'd ever heard, even vaguely louder than the music in Johnathan's car, and the lights were vaguely distracting. In the back, there was a small table, with a number of drinks on it.

I wasn't quite sure what to do, so I made my way to the back, and took a wine glass, not sure what the tiny glasses next to it were for.

Looking at the selection of beverages, I noticed two clear fluids, one was marked 'water' the other was marked 'vodka.' I knew vodka was more alcoholic than wine or beer, although I didn't know how much more, so I poured myself a glass of it, feeling rebellious.

I decided to take it slow, and drink it over the course of an hour, that way I wouldn't get too drunk. Or so I thought. This was probably the only good decision I made during the party, although not for the reasons I thought.

As I took a first sip, I noticed that it BURNED in my mouth, and the texture felt something like sand, rather than like a liquid.

I attempted to dance while I drank, and I will admit that, as I drank, the girls at the party began to appear prettier, and I'm sure I got less and less coordinated, although I really don't remember much of it. In fact, the next thing I know that happened, I know happened not because I remember it, but because the other people involved have told me about it.

My phone rang. I'm actually very grateful, because I might well have poisoned myself otherwise.

I picked it up, knowing who it was by the ringtone.

"Hello, Kari." I tried to say. I know, considering how drunk I must have been, it was probably incredibly slurred.

"'T.K, what is the music?"

"I'm at... A party." I said.

"And you're drunk." She commented.

"Only a little."

"How much is a 'little?'"

"I've only had half a glass."

"Half a glass of what?"

"Vodka."

"How do you have half a glass of vodka?"

"Huh?"

"Vodka is supposed to be served in shot glasses, which are tiny."

"Oh."

"Did you put it in a wine glass?"

"Yes."

"'Oh god... T.K... Put the glass down, and get a ride out. Now."

"Why should I put it down?"

"A wine glass full of vodka would have more than 7 servings of alcohol in it, that's why!"

"Oh..."

"Yeah 'oh'."

Apparently, I chose to say something rather awkward for me at this point, "Kari, I li-"

"'Keru... Not now, alright?" She said.

Apparently, I walked over to Johnathan, and told him what had happened. And then proceeded to throw up all over him.

Finally, as Kari was about to hang up, I tried, again, to tell her how I felt.

She closed her phone. I must have taken this as a rejection at the time.

What I couldn't possibly have heard was her whispering to her (hung up) phone.

"Keru... I like you too. But I don't want you to tell me that. Not while you're drunk like this." She said. Or at least, she tells me she said.

And then, she broke down into tears.

* * *

End Ch 2: Vodka in a Wine Glass


	4. Hangover

Chapter 3: Hangover:

A/N: I have to publish something, or I'm going to lose all drive to write, and while this chapter is shorter than I'd like, it's still something.

* * *

I woke up with a throbbing headache, like none I'd ever had before. Then again, I normally didn't have headaches in the first place, so being my worst wasn't saying as much as it might.

"What happened?" I asked no one in particular, "Did I hit myself on the head with a hammer?"

"No, but you got hammered. You drank four or so servings of vodka from a wine glass." Johnathan replied, "And proceeded to throw up all over me, and then fell unconscious."

"I'm sorry." I said, feeling like a complete and total ass.

"It's fine, I was going to do my laundry today anyway." He replied, laughing.

"So, what all did I do that was incredibly stupid while I was drunk?" I asked, dreading the inevitable answer.

"Not much." He said, to my immense surprise and relief. And then, I realized he had answered 'not much' instead of 'nothing'.

"Not _much?_" I asked, "Just spill the beans, what did I do?"

"To be honest, I think all involved would be better off if they just forgot." He replied cryptically.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I asked, simultaneously enraged and puzzled.

"It means 'you probably don't have to know, and you really don't want to know'" Johnathan replied, just as cryptically as before.

"What, did I get rejected or something?" I asked, now simply puzzled, as I could tell Johnathan wasn't having any fun hiding this from me.

"Not quite." Johnathan replied.

"So whoever it is said _yes?" _I asked, now frantic.

"No."

"Then what the hell hap-"

"She refused to answer, presumably because she knew you were drunk."

"Oh. You'd only hide that from me if it hurt the other person, and if I knew them." I said, with a sudden rush of inspiration, and a surprising one at that, considering my headache. The logic in it was that if it was better for 'all involved' that means EVERYBODY got hurt, and that I would be able to hurt the other person by bringing it up again. On top of that, only someone who liked me, and probably only someone who liked me a lot, would refuse to answer, because they didn't want to say 'no'.

"Not answering that." Johnathan answered, putting his head in his hands, "You really don't want to know, and it will probably hurt her if you bring it up again... But I have this feeling you'll want to apologize."

"God, I feel like such an ass." I said, laughing, "You were right, I didn't want to know, and I didn't need to know. "

My inspiration gave me a logical path to follow to the answer: I'd asked Kari out, or at least tried to tell her how I felt about her. And obviously, she'd not answered. She didn't want to hurt my feelings... Or, perhaps, she hadn't wanted it to be that way when I'd asked her out. Maybe she'd envisioned it as something more romantic, or perhaps simply more clearly intended.

Or, perhaps she had simply not wanted to trap me in a relationship I didn't want. I honestly couldn't be certain, but, no matter the reason, I'd done harm to her, and I'd made myself look like an ass.

"See? Trust me next time." Johnathan said, laughing.

"Shut up, man. Now, it's gonna be so awkward, and..."

"No, YOU shut up. Listen to you whine! It's gonna be so awkward, and...." He imitated, "Why is it going to be awkward?"

"Because I screwed up." I admitted, thinking he was trying to make me take responsibility for my actions.

"No. Because you ARE screwing up." He replied, "It doesn't HAVE to be awkward. Forget about it."

"But, I really do like her, and now she knows, and -"

"Then, you know, try telling her how you feel, now that you're sober."

"But, what if-"

"T.K Takashi. A coward! Who'd of thought it? You're supposed to be the hero of two worlds! You know, courage in abundance, willing to die for the cause! But, in reality? You're such a coward, you can't even ask the girl you like, and have liked for a while now, out." He said, laughing.

I instantly caught on to the fact that I was being egged on. Even so, he had me now, and I felt the need to justify myself; I was no coward.

"For your information." I began, with as much voice as I could manage, considering how dried up my throat was, "I wasn't even aloud to ask Kari out until yesterday, so 'liking her for a long time' doesn't exactly matter, and she's likely the person I'll be staying with after I leave your apartment, so making things awkward between us is NOT high on my priority list."

"Which is a great justification, I'm _sure._ And you might able to fool someone who didn't know you terribly well with it. But the real question is, can you fool yourself? Anyway, I have to leave, I have to go to the dry cleaner" Johnathan replied, pissing me off no end. I mean, it wasn't as if I stood to gain anything by avoiding asking the girl out. Or did I? Was I really being a coward? I'd never seen myself that way, but that didn't mean it wasn't an accurate picture of me.

In fact, I really didn't stand anything to gain by NOT asking Kari out, so not doing so was sort of cowardly. Then again, I hadn't really had the opportunity up until yesterday, and I had done so yesterday, although I had no intention of doing so. Maybe Johnathan had been replying to my tone, with which I had implied that I had no intention of telling the girl how I felt, an implication I had not really intended to make.

"I am NEVER drinking again." I muttered to myself. I mean, this hangover was hellish, and really, I'd not really wanted to drink in the first place, it had just been a reaction to doing something I'd been told not to.

I finally sat up, and then realized that I had no clothes other than the clothes on my back. Sure, I had my wallet with me, with all 10,000 yen ( aprx. $100) I'd saved over the last couple years by not spending 100 yen from my allowance and thus keeping it with me without alerting my mother I was doing so, but planned to keep it for emergencies. Then again, my plans including a catastrophic oversight was an emergency, although one that disheartened me slightly.


	5. Old Friend

Chapter 4: Old friend

A/N: Thanks, everyone, for the wonderful reviews. Arc, I personally don't see this particular read of Takeru as stupid so much as unwise. Cody is fun to expand on, though. I experimented with writing through a different process than normal, and I'm not sure how good the product is. Review? Either way, this is a monster of a chapter.

Same Point of View:

* * *

I decided that I would play Super Smash Bros. Brawl at least until Johnathan got back, and probably until the headache had faded. In the hour between when I started play and when Johnathan finally got back, I learned during the first few games that I was able to beat the first couple difficulty levels on the computer, and by the time that the hour was up, I was actually able to beat the level 4 CPU.

I also realized that I was incredibly thirsty, which was no surprise. Johnathan had previously told me to help my self to the contents of his fridge, and so I took a bottle of water. I went through it pretty fast, and, determined to cost my host as little as possible, refilled it out of the tap rather than getting a new bottle.

When Johnathan finally returned, he threw a bag at me.

"Clothes. Because I know what it's like to be without a change of clothes, and I'm gonna get paid to work with one of my friends car's over the break." Johnathan said, "And because I know roughly what you wear, because I talked to Cody."

"I can pay you back if you want." I said, "And how the hell does he know that?"

"I don't know, but I assume you told him at some point." Johnathan said, "And no, don't pay me back. To be honest, I just didn't want to have more money than normal in my pocket, because I knew I'd go through it and anything else I had on me."

I knew Johnathan knew how to save, it was very obvious, so he was lying to me about being afraid that the money would burn a hole in his pocket, but I believed him entirely when he said he knew what it was like being without a change of clothes, and I suspected that Johnathan was trying to help me because he saw me as in need of help, as I presumed he'd once been. Whatever the reason, I was grateful.

"Thanks." I said, "You're the best."

"Hey, and I also have to tell you that I'm not going to be able to give you a roof to sleep under tonight... But, not to worry. I talked to Cody to make sure there was someone else you could stay with." He said.

"So, who am I staying with now?" I asked, almost worried I'd end up with one of Johnathan's more impulsive friends, and not trusting myself with any of them. I mean, I had already proved myself to be incredibly impulsive, and lacking greatly in self control.

"Well, Cody is offering you the couch at his house, since his parents are out and he's allowed to have a friend over for a sleepover."

"Cool. Hey, though, what's up with me having to go?" I asked, curious.

"Well... There's this girl I met at the party last night, and she's going to be over."

"Wow. You? With a girl? No way!" I teased.

"Funny." He replied blandly, "But not terribly."

"I know. I know."

"Anyway, I'm going to take you over to Cody's." Johnathan said.

"Alright." I was a little confused at the fact that he was having me leave so soon, but I really didn't care, just so long as I had a roof over my head.

So I packed up my stuff, and we got back in Johnathan's car one last time, and he turned up the music as loud as we could. When we arrived at Cody's house, I thanked Johnathan one last time for everything he'd done for me, and knocked on the door to the house.

He opened up the door, and grinned. He'd grown a lot over the last few years, and was now nearly as tall I was... And I'd grown significantly, too.

But, he'd done more things with his life than I had. It'd been a long time since I'd done anything decisive with my life before yesterday... in fact, not counting yesterday, and the events leading up to, It'd been since the last time I'd gone to the digital world since I'd last done anything dramatic at all.

Cody, however, never seemed to stop doing dramatic things; he'd come up with a crazy scheme to make friends when he was hardly accepted at all for being a 'goody-two-shoes', and, because of his reputation alone, it'd worked. The idea had been essentially a favor exchange, with no collection. It only worked because Cody put a great deal of time making people feel indebted to him, and rather than accepting their attempts to pay him back directly, he'd have them help one of his friends. Most people didn't see helping others as really costly to themselves, because most requests were things like 'hey, I need a roof to stay under', and that really benefited both sides, because the person giving the roof gained a friend.

Because of this, people were willing to help others far more than they'd been helped, meaning a sort of a constructive cycle formed, with Cody at the center. He rarely got anything back from, but some people refused not to pay him back, and sometimes he'd ask for a favor, sometimes something as significant as asking for an internship.

And, once he had that, he could gained more and more opportunities. It was pretty amazing, and sometimes I was kind of jealous. I mean, everyone wanted to be like Cody. He had anything anyone could possibly want; almost any girl would have dated him, and some would have gone further if he'd asked, although I didn't think Cody would do that, he would probably think it was 'reputation suicide', or something of the like... Of course, he'd say it in some voice that made it seem like a joke.

More to the point, he could get a summer job pretty much anywhere, he just had to ask. He had the connections, he had the recommendations, he had the reputation. He got to do the coolest things.

All because he'd once been an outcast. And I'd he'd seen the potential in it; to help others, and to help himself... People didn't even know of his most important achievement; having saved two worlds, and they still worshiped the ground he walked on.

And here I was, a nobody. I had stood alongside him when he'd saved worlds, but when it'd come to the mundane, hell, when it had come to dealing with the real world, I couldn't do anything in comparison.

Partly because I just coasted along. I was mostly content to be no one. Mostly. When I was around Cody, though, it was hard to be content. Mostly because I jealous. Mostly, because EVERYONE was jealous.

I actually felt kinda guilty that I felt so jealous, he'd definitely earned this, and he'd helped me, and now I was jealous of him?

It was kind of stupid, but that wasn't really the point. I really envied him his drive, and his courage, after all, it takes great courage to take such a risk. And really, up until recently, I'd envied him his interesting life.

Now, I wished I could have my rather boring existence back... And I realized that it'd been years since I'd had a boring life. Immediately after the last time in the digital world was the last time. Not to far after that, me and my mother had started arguing over something small, but I'd lost all sorts of privileges for my 'power strugle'. And then, every time I ever argued with her, I'd just lost more. She'd wanted me to go into politics when I grew up, which had been the root of our argument. I didn't, I wanted to write. But she wasn't going to let me use my privileges unless I agreed with her, and she was carefully 'vetting' my friend with me.

It had really ticked me off, but I had put up with it. I needed a roof over my head, and there wasn't really much I could do about it. So I'd just sat through it all, hoping to get something back, while refusing to promise her anything.

She was going to send me to a school with 'decent people' next year, which is why I was rebelling now.

Cody came to the door, finally, and apologized, "Sorry, I was in the bathroom."

"No problem. It's not raining, at the very least." I said, with a laugh.

"True, true." Cody said, laughing back, "Anyway, come on in. Take off your shoes."

I did, glad to finally be out of the cold.

"By the way, just curious, how did you know what clothes I wear?" I asked, not sure I really wanted to know the answer.

"You told me, because you wanted a shirt a couple months ago, and your mother wouldn't let you have it, so you had me buy it. I told Johnathan to buy you a size larger than that, because I decided it would be better for the clothes to be too large than too small." Cody, said, with a sly smile "I DO keep track of these things. It's useful for when someone needs to buy someone else a present or something."

"Interesting." I said, not quite sure what to think.

"Anyway, are you doing alright?" Cody asked, "I heard you got a little more drunk than you intended to last night."

"Truth be told, I'm feeling much better, but I'm very hungry... I didn't eat at all last night, and, apparently, I threw up, as well." I admitted.

"Yeah. This is why you should think before you act." Cody said, much more seriously than I expected. I had expected him to laugh at my plight, but I was kind of glad that he cared, because I wasn't exactly having the best day ever.

"Can you explain what the hell happened that got me so drunk, anyway?" I asked, having not gotten the whole story from Johnathan.

"To put it simply, Vodka is several times more alcoholic than wine."

"Ah... I didn't know that."

"Then perhaps 'Do your research before you do something that could be stupid' would be a better admonition." Cody said, more amused now.

"Will do." I said, "This has _not_ been pleasant, so I think I've learned my lesson."

"I should hope so. Anyway, go make yourself a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich or something." Cody said, and I couldn't help but laugh. I was actually a better cook than Cody, and that was saying a lot... about Cody's skills, not about mine. After all, I could make basic dishes involving eggs, while Cody was pretty much only able to prepare peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches and pop-tarts.

I continued, going to the kitchen to prepare myself a sandwich, just as Cody had suggested. As I did so, I lost myself in thought, continuing from a thought that I'd had when I was talking to Cody; had today not been the best day ever? Even with the headache and the shame, I was free. Even if I was free and I wasn't enjoying myself, it was infinitely better than being couped up, even if I thought I was enjoying myself... Even if freedom was valueless because the girl I'd simply wanted to love and the school I'd simply wanted to attend were neither available; Kari was on vacation, and the school was out of session for the week.

So, in some ways, this was best day in a very long time. Because I could be me. At my mother's house, I hadn't been able to be me, I'd had to pretend to be someone else. And that had worn me down more than I'd ever thought I could be worn down; even the terror of losing the world hadn't been as destructive as this, because it'd never had the chance to wear in.

When I finished the sandwich, I couldn't help but laugh a little. Contrary to what everyone had always told me, making a sandwich was not easy... Well, it actually was. But making a good sandwich was an art like making anything else. You had to get just the right amount of peanut butter, typically more than you could easily get, and then you had to get the right amount of jelly, which wasn't as hard.

This was not a good sandwich in that respect. It wasn't a bad sandwich, either, but that was mostly because unless you forgot the peanut-butter _and_ the jelly, you couldn't MAKE a bad sandwich, and even two pieces of bread weren't awful.

So I went and sat down to eat, and Cody sat down across from me.

"You suck at PBJ's." He said, laughing.

"I will remind you that I, at least, can make more than PBJ's." I replied, laughing back.

"Yeah, and if I wanted someone to cook for me, I could get anyone to cook for me." Cody pointed out.

"Touche." I said, but what I wanted to say was, 'don't rub it in.'

"After this, you want to play Super Smash Bro's?" Cody asked, "Because I hear you were playing with Johnathan."

"No, I think I've been humiliated enough." I admitted, with my mouth full of sandwich."

"Very well." Cody said, "What do you want to do?"

"Well, we've got some catching up to do, it's been forever since I last saw you in person." I pointed out.

"True." Cody said, "So, beyond the obvious, what is up with you?"

"Not much," I said, "being couped up and grounded constantly, half of the time both in name and reality and the rest of the time simply in reality does that to you, you know."

"Touche." Cody conceded.

"You?"

"Well, beyond the obvious?" He asked, referring to his new way of existence, or at least, relatively new.

"Sure, but first, how do you do it?" I asked, noticing that the phone hadn't rung at all since I'd been here.

"You were the first person I told, have you forgotten?" Cody asked.

"No, I mean, live a normal life on top of this. I've noticed the phone hasn't rung, but yet, you always pick up when I call."

"It's pretty simple, really. For close friends, calls are rerouted to me. Normally, I have someone who feels he owes me something and asks to help me handle calls, and they work through the list. If they notice someone who is either a close friend, or is doing something as significant as, say, running away, then they reroute the call. Also, if it's someone who is involved with someone doing something significant, I take the call directly. Most people, though, are just asking 'hey, what kind of present would this person want?', and I normally have a list of such things, so it doesn't really take much work." Cody explained.

"Nepotism much?" I teased.

"No, it's because close friends normally call me for other reasons." He replied, and laughed.

"Oh. That was obvious." I admitted, feeling like an idiot.

"You were just thinking about it in in terms of the operation, not in terms of how of how I live. From that way of seeing things, it looks vaguely like nepotism, although, really, it's my show, and it's not as if anyone would expect anything else." He pointed out, and I realized that he was actually right.

"Hmmm... I didn't think about how I was thinking about it." I said, and then laughed at the way the sentence sounded.

"Ugh... Seriously, you have no idea how many people can't just ask for what they want." Cody said.

"Where did that come from?" I asked.

"People always need to equivocate when they are asking for something they feel is embarrassing, so their sentences are more confusing even than what you just said." He clarified, and then frowned, "Seriously, why do people feel the need to do that?"

"Cody, I'm sure you weren't sheltered, but some of us were. It's subconscious, almost." I tried to explain.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Simple. Some of us were taught to equivocate. It's more polite, in some peoples eyes, to use a euphemism that people can't even understand than to just come straight out and say something."

"I guess. It's just annoying."

"Besides, define embarrassing." I tried to force him to realize that whatever was 'embarrassing', he wasn't willing to talk about it either.

"Client confidentiality." Cody said, in his best 'professional' imitation.

And then we both laughed, and could hardly stop.


	6. The hardest choice

Ch 5: The hardest choice:

A/N: This chapter isn't as long as the last one, although it's still not a short chapter.

* * *

Kari's POV

* * *

I fidgeted with my phone; had I made the right choice? Sure, I'd dreamed of him asking me out in some incredibly romantic way... But I wasn't sure if my dreams would ever come true.

And then there was the other half; what if T.K did this again? What if he made a habit getting drunk? What if he became addicted? I was genuinely worried about him. After all, he wasn't JUST my crush. He was my best friend, and my best friend of many years, at that.

I would call him. I'd chew him out. I'd resolved to do that HOURS ago. I wasn't going to let T.K throw his life away. Not now, not ever. But I wasn't going to chew him out while we were still on our way home. Not with my parents so close.

But, I was worried about more than just the long run. I wanted to call him and see if he was alright. And I could do that NOW. But I didn't have the nerve; I was worried he'd be hurt by what he would have perceived as my rejection, if he remembered it at all.

So here I was sitting, fidgeting with my cellphone on a cramped train home. It would be ten or twenty minutes before we finally got home, and I didn't know if I could wait that much longer.

"I'll have to face him eventually." I muttered.

I dialed the number for Cody's phone, which T.K currently had.

"Hello, Kari. What's up?" T.K asked, sounding almost hesitant, as if he was afraid of me.

"Not much. Just wanted to know if you were alright."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Hey, about last-" He began, probably about to apologize.

"Don't talk about it. Please." I said, not wanting to cry again; It'd been hard to turn him down, and to be honest, I wasn't sure it was the right choice.

"Why not?"

"Because I was hoping you'd forget." I replied.

"I did, Johnathan told me what had happened after I pressed him for details."

I frowned, "You can't forget, can you."

"No." He said.

I had no idea what to say; I wanted to leave myself open to be asked out again, but I didn't want to make it obvious that I liked him, in case he didn't like me back.

"I'm glad you're alright." I said, "I'm almost home. Talk to you later?"

"Sure."

* * *

T.K's POV

* * *

As I closed the phone, I sighed slightly.

Cody apparently overheard my sigh, and commented, "If you like her, just ask her out."

"Yeah, only I'm not sure how well that will go over." I admitted.

"T.K, if you don't ask her, I promise you, she won't say yes." Cody said, and then let out a sigh of exasperation, "But that's true of everything; if you don't ask, you won't receive."

"But..." I began, only to have Cody cut me off.

"What have you got to lose?" He asked.

"I'm more worried about her saying 'yes', honestly." I admitted, "I need her as a friend, as well as wanting her as a partner."

"That's fair." Cody admitted, "But, I think you have to choose; get over her, or ask her out. Because you've NEVER dated. And I'm sure there are plenty of girls out there who would date you, so I'm going to assume you've been obsessed with her... well, since puberty."

"No, my mother just hasn't allowed me to date."

"There are a NUMBER of ways to work around that, and I'm sure you could have come up with one if you'd so desired."

"That's true. You're right, I do have to do one or the other." I admitted, "What do I do?"

"I don't know. That's YOUR choice. I can't make it for you." Cody said, shaking his head.

"I'm asking for advice." I said.

"That was advice." Cody said.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, annoyed. Since when did Cody speak in riddles?

"I mean that the best advice I can give you is no one else can decide for you."

"Kari could ask me out." I pointed out, less annoyed, now that Cody had spelled what he meant out, but still vaguely annoyed; Cody had started with the riddles in the first place.

"Yes, but that wouldn't be deciding for you, now would it?" Cody asked.

"Again with the riddles!" I exclaimed, "When did you become Yoda?"

Cody rolled his eyes, "There are no riddles here, T.K, you are just being thick."

"Really? Well then, what DID you mean?" I challenged

"I mean that you'd still have to make the decision of whether or not to give up on her. You just would have to make it THEN."

"You're right. I am being thick." I conceded.

"It's cool. You also clearly DON'T want to decide." Cody said.

"True. True. But how pressing is it, anyway?" I asked.

"Well, considering that you plan on asking her if her parents can take you in for a few weeks _tomorrow_, I'd say it's pretty damn pressing that you get your relationship in order, wouldn't you?"

I paused. Cody was right, again. And I really didn't know what choice I had. There was no right choice here. This was too important to make the decision now. And yet, if I didn't decide soon, It would be a long time before I made any choice whatsoever. The worst choice was not to choose; I'd just hurt for her, and hurt for her, and still, some day, I'd have to choose. And, even if I did decide that I was going to move on, that I needed her too much as a friend, that I truly couldn't live without her no matter WHAT I did, it might take forever to actually find someone else. And that was probably what it would take, my feelings weren't going to magically disappear when I willed them away.

And besides, it felt like the cowards out. But... asking her out had other problems. I'd told Cody what was wrong with it.

I sighed, "Thanks. I needed that."

"Sorry." He said, "It's hard, I know."

"No, really. Thanks. I'm free now, and I can't keep living in a little box. It's time I started making decisions for myself." I said.

"No problem, then." Cody replied, laughing slightly, "You need to think?"

"I'm not sure I'll get anywhere. Honestly. What would you do?" I asked, looking for any help with this.

"I'm not telling you that." He answered, "It'll influence your decision."

"And? What am I supposed to do? Jump right into this without any advice at all?"

"T.K... I don't know any more than you do here, I've never had to deal with liking my best friend like that." Cody said, "But only YOU know how strongly you feel. Anyway, I'm going to play Super Smash Bros. Good luck."

So now all I could do was think. I liked her. A lot, I knew that. But yet, I knew I had almost no hope of staying with her, even if she said yes. But I wanted her SO badly that it was almost worth the risk. Almost. But giving up meant putting up with these feelings for as long as they lasted, every time I saw her. Dealing with them, and knowing that I didn't want to act upon them.

"I can't win." I muttered, "I lose no matter what happens. If I choose not to act, I will hurt whenever I am near her. I don't choose, I will feel awkward whenever I am near her. If I act, I will almost certainly gain nothing, and will likely make her angry... Well, if I don't just hurt like hell if she says no."

Realizing that she _might _say no changed my mindset entirely. Because that was quite possibly the best choice; I would not have to suppress my feelings, and while I might hurt, it was possibly the least I would end up hurting, and the easiest to move on from.

And that made it an obvious decision. I should act. Because every other line always lost, but this line only lost the vast majority of the time.

I walked down the stairs, and tapped Cody on the shoulder.

"Given up already?" Cody asked.

"No. I know what I'm going to do." I replied, smiling.

"Judging by your facial expression, you're going to ask her out, or something." He assumed.

"How do you know that?" I asked.

"Well, if you'd decided that you DIDN'T want to pursue her, you'd be unhappy, for now. But you're happy this way."

"If you knew I'd be happier this way, why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you are risking unhappiness later, and you know it."

"I guess so..." I said, "Well, now the easy part is done, it's all uphill from here."

I realized that this was true; I was still going to have a hell of a time asking her out. Even though, supposedly, I wanted her to say no, it was what I feared most. Because, logically, while it had seemed the best prospect, the only prospect that had been even vaguely positive emotionally had been her saying yes.

"Good luck, T.K." Cody said, "You want to play?"

"No. I'm going to call her."

"And tell her-" He began, going to ask 'And tell her how you feel?', but I cut him off.

"No. Not over the phone." I said, "I want to do this right, if I'm wagering the most important friendship I have on it."

"And what am I?" Cody asked.

"Cody... You are a very good friend. But you haven't seen the same things I've seen.." I said, "You were only there for the second time. Kari has a unique perspective; she and I went through very VERY similar circumstances." I explained, hoping I hadn't hurt Cody's feelings _too_ badly.

"I was joking." He said, "I understand."

So I took the phone out of my pocket, and called Kari back.

She picked up fairly quickly.

"Hi, T.K, what's up?" She asked, and when I heard her voice again, what remained of the anger I had felt over the way I felt about her ebbed. I realized that she always calmed me, but I'd always tried to ignore this before. Because I didn't want to like her as more than a friend... Or, at least, I wanted to believe that it was a crush, and that it would pass.

"Not much. You home now?" I asked, smiling. I could swear that Cody tried to stifle a laugh.

"Yes." She replied.

"So, can your family take me in for a while?" I asked.

"Yes. But I want a promise out of you." She said forcefully, "You aren't going to drink again."

"Fine. I promise that I will not drink again. That was bad enough once." I vowed, and then laughed.

"It's really not funny!" She replied, but before she could say more, I cut her off.

"I know. I was laughing because I'd already promised myself that I'd never drink again... God, that headache." I explained.

"Good." She said, still forceful.

"Why are you so angry? I mean, I understood it before, but what's up now?"

"You worried me." She said, sounding hurt for a moment before becoming angry again, "You hurt yourself. You..."

"I'm sorry." I apologized.

"Thank you. I know, I asked you not to apologize earlier, and I am sorry for that. So," She said, "I'll think about forgiving you."

"Thank you." I said, although in reality I was a little hurt that she was only _thinking_ about forgiving me.

"Anyway, when can you come over?" She asked,

"I don't know. Currently, I'm at Cody's."

"Ah. I'm assuming you plan to spend the night there?"

"Yeah, I mean, you are going to have to get unpacked anyway, right?" I pointed out.

"Sure. Well then, I'll see you tomorrow." She said.

"See you tomorrow." I agreed, and hung up.

Knowing that I would see her tomorrow excited me a great deal, and the excitement I felt disturbed me slightly.


	7. 1200 seconds

Ch 6: 1200 seconds.

A/N: Counting second make them seem faster. Of course, ignoring the clock makes them seem even faster :P. Review please? Note that I have not really edited this as much I'd have liked to.

* * *

At about 9 PM, Cody received a phone call from someone who, apparently, had something confidential to talk to him about, and Cody went upstairs to his bedroom, telling me that he probably wouldn't be back downstairs today.

First, however, he handed me a plastic bag, and said "So you have a place to put what you are wearing."

"Thanks." I said, feeling grateful.

"No problem. Hey, and sorry about having to run off on you." He said.

"No problem, I understand." I said. It was true, too. I did understand, and, more to the point, I desperately needed the alone time, now more than ever.

I felt like I was drowning in everything, things were far more complicated than I'd ever have expected. It was far more complicated than anything I'd dealt with before, even in the digital world, but in reality I'd barely scratched the surface. Partly, it was because I'd lived such a sheltered life. Mostly, though, it was because this was what I'd sought; the real world.

And, if I was truly drowning in all of this, I shouldn't have run away. I understood why my mother had tried to shelter me from this. From the alcohol, from the dating, and from the world as a whole. Because I COULDN'T deal with it, not yet. And I instantly resented her even more now that I understood what she had been protecting me from.

Because it was worth protecting me from. Which made it all the worse. Had it not been worth protecting me from, it would have been fine. But she'd been right to protect me from it... But not to hide it from me.

I was bound to crash like this, the way she'd set me up. And she should have known it. Because I knew nothing of what I was getting into. Because she didn't trust me, so she'd 'protected' me from knowledge that I needed to avoid disaster when I made mistakes. And she'd 'protected' me from talking to girls and dealing with Kari, because she didn't trust me to make the right decision in a complicated situation. In so doing, she'd assured that I'd have trouble making such a decision when it mattered.

It also struck me that I'd followed her rules, and that this had been a mistake. Because I hadn't taken responsibility for my own life once I felt it was necessary. Because I hadn't cared. Because, in reality, I hadn't run away to face the real world. I'd run away to stay with my friends.

And even when I'd finally broken free, I didn't really face the world. I had made it this far on pure luck. Luck that Kari had called me before I'd done something REALLY stupid or poisoned myself. Luck because Cody had told me that I really did need to make up my mind on how I felt about Kari. Luck that Johnathan had been willing to buy clothes for me. Luck that he realized that I needed them!

Heck, it had been luck that I hadn't had to walk home with my metaphorical tail between my legs fifteen minutes after I'd left. Had Cody not found someone to take me in for the day, and then been willing to take me in himself the next day, I would have had to face the rain alone.

And I'd nearly given up, facing the rain with help. It struck me that I wasn't really 'drowning' in everything, that I was treading water, but just barely. And it wasn't JUST luck. It was fortitude and determination that had allowed me to keep my head above water, as well.

And, in reality, it didn't matter if it was luck or not; I'd made the right decision. Because I'd made this mistakes... and I was learning from them. I'd done it minimal harm, hell, with minimal embarrassment.

I wasn't sure how much longer I could JUST tread water, though. At some point, it would be sink or swim. Because, at some point, I would have to leave the Kamiya's household. At some point, I would have to put a roof over my head, or go home. I didn't want to go home until my mother was ready to admit that I could do as I pleased, so long as I followed _reasonable_ rules.

I was willing to follow _reasonable_ rules. And that was new; I realized that it had been her house, and I was grateful for the roof. But I wasn't going to live there unless the rules were fair, and I wasn't going to be grateful for the roof if I didn't have the freedom not to live under it.

It was then that I realized that I probably should call Dad and tell him to call Mom and say that I was fine; that was, at the very least, a safe thing to do, and I didn't want to end up being 'missing', because then people would start looking for me. Which I didn't particularly want.

So I dialed his number, and the phone rang for a few moments. And then Matt, who was home from college for the break, picked it up.

"Hello, who is this?" He asked, sounding vaguely angry.

"This it T.K" I said, "I just wanted to call and say that I'm safe."

Matt sighed, and then snapped at me, "Takeru, you've caused me and Dad NO END of inconvenience, you know that, right?"

"Huh?" I asked, vaguely confused.

"First, Mom called, claiming that we'd 'kidnapped you' and then the police came and searched the whole place seeing if you were here. And now, _now_ you tell us you are safe?" Matt ranted, and then calmed down, saying "Well, I'm glad you are alright. Do you need someone to pick you up and bring you back home? You've got to be awful hungry by now."

"No, I'm fine, I'm staying with friends. And I have no _home_ Matt. I _might_ have a_ house_, although Mom kicked me out anyway. But it doesn't matter. That place hasn't been _home_ for me for _years_." I snapped back.

"Friends?" Matt asked suspiciously.

"You promise that you won't tell anyone, if you feel I'm safe with them?" I asked.

"Sure." He replied, "Who is it?"

"Cody, for the moment, and then I'm going to be staying with the Kamiyas." I answered.

"They aren't home." Matt said, "You know that, right?"

"The Kamiyas got home today, actually." I replied, smirking to myself.

"Alright. Do you want me to call Mom and tell her you are alright?" Matt asked.

"If you don't think it will be too much trouble. I mean, I didn't want to call her myself because I didn't particularly want to give her my location."

"Alright. You need anything?" Matt asked.

"Not anything you are allowed to give." I replied, "I may need a place to stay in a week or so, but since I doubt I will be able to get emancipation that quickly, I don't think you can do much for me on that score."

"Alright. If you need anything I _can_ help you with, call me. I'll be glad to help."

"Thanks." I said, "Bye."

"Bye." He said, and laughed, "Don't do anything with Kari that her parents wouldn't approve of."

"Whatever" I said, and laughed, hanging up.

I was vaguely tired, which surprised me slightly, but it had been a long day, and besides, I'd been moderately drunk last night, so I had no idea if I would sleep as well.

I changed into a new set of clothing from what Johnathan had bought, and then put my dirty laundry into the plastic bag. The new clothing itched vaguely, because it had not yet been washed, but it was better than wearing the clothing I'd been wearing for the last two days.

It didn't take long before I was asleep on the couch. When I woke up the next morning, I realized just how bad I smelled. When I looked up, I noticed that Cody was already downstairs.

"Must... Shower." I grumbled.

"Go right ahead." Cody said, "You'll probably want a towel, though, so I'll go find something."

He went downstairs, and came back holding a towel for a bunch of childish cartoon characters.

"Sorry, man, it's the best I can find that no one uses."

"It's cool." I replied, "Anything is better than smelling like this."

So I went upstairs, and showered. After I got dried off and got dressed again, I looked at myself at the mirror for the first time since I'd run away.

My hair was damp and clumped together, but that was the only thing about me that looked truly unkempt. Instead, I looked clean, and well groomed. I wanted to remind my reflection that I was a runaway, that there was no way in hell I could have looked so clean.

Of course, this would have been ridiculous. And I knew that. It was just that I'd assumed that I wasn't going to be able to take care of myself beyond my basic needs, so I'd expected the face looking back at me to look the part of a runaway.

It didn't. I didn't. I smiled, and breathed a deep sigh. I guess it should have been obvious that I wasn't going to change over the course of two days. But, apparently, it hadn't been. I left the bathroom, and walked downstairs.

"Hey, T.K." Cody said, "You need a ride to the Kamiya's, right?"

"What time is it?" I asked.

"It's 9:15." Cody replied.

"I'll call and check to see if they are awake." I said, taking the phone from my pocket.

I dailed Kari's number, knowing she'd have her phone if she was awake, and that it probably wouldn't wake her if she wasn't.

_Ring. Ring. _

She picked it up.

"Good morning, T.K." She mumbled.

"Did I wake you up?" I asked, worried.

"No." She said, with the sound of her arm rubbing up against the phone; she was probably rubbing her eyes.

"But you haven't been up for long." I concluded.

"Uhh.... Would 'yes' or 'no' be 'I just woke up." She asked, presumably responding to the negative in my question.

"I don't know, actually. It doesn't matter, I know what you mean now. When should I come over?"

"Give me thirty minutes, alright?" She requested.

"Alright. See you soon?" I asked, trying not to sound _too_ excited.

"Yeah." She said, audibly more awake.

I hung up, and smiled. "Thirty minutes."

"Cool." He said.

I looked up at the clock. 7:16.

"So, we can get there as early as 7:46. It takes 15 minutes to get there, right?" I estimated.

"I'd say 10 minutes. And yes, I'm counting that we are walking." Cody replied, sighing and rolling his eyes.

"So, we leave at 8:06" I calculated quickly.

"Or we could leave at 8:10." Cody said, "No need to rush."

"Do you REALLY want to put up with me for 4 extra minutes?" I asked, knowing that he DID, but that was beside the point.

"Not like this, you are right." He replied, and then laughed. "Seriously CALM DOWN."

"20 minutes is... 2*6, 12, two zeros, 1200 seconds." I calculated, hardly audibly.

"And a long 1200 seconds it's going to be, T.K." Cody replied, "Seriously, you are like a little kid."

I rolled my eyes, "So?"

"So you are making it a long 1200 seconds for me, too."

I glanced up at the clock, a minute had passed.

"19 minutes left." I said.

"Whatever, T.K."

I laughed, "Sorry, man."

"No problem, I understand, I'm just giving you a hard time."

"I know." I replied, looking back up at the clock.

"10% of the time has passed." I said, laughing slightly.

"What is this, Takeru's random fact of the minute?"

"I haven't seen her outside of school in more than a month. She's my best friend, _AND _I like her." I replied, "I think I get to have a random fact of the minute."

"Yeah, but you're making this as much of a drag for me as this is for you."

"Think of it this way; by extending the time between seconds, I'm extending your life. You should thank me!"

"Whatever." Cody replied, "Ten minute game of Super Smash?"

"Sure.

So we went upstairs to Cody's room and started up the game console. During the time it took to start the game, three more minutes passed (I even knew that character selection took a whole thirty seconds, due to my incessant checking of the clock.)

I chose Link, he chose Pikachu.

"Pikachu?" I asked, with a bit of contempt.

"Never, ever, EVER underestimate Pikachu."

He killed me at 20 seconds.... And then at 40 seconds. And then at 1 minute. He was much, MUCH, MUCH better than me, and by the time the game was over, the score was 25 to -25.

"How do you do that?" I asked.

"Lots and lots and LOTS of practice. Not something you can learn in five minutes, especially because you should be getting on your shoes and getting ready to leave."

"True."

I ran down the stairs, and put my shoes on without untying and retying them.

"Slow down!" Cody said from the stairs. "You're going to want your clothes."

"Right." I said, getting the two bags from on the couch.

"Alright, see you later." Cody said, walking down the stairs.

"Yeah. See you." I said, and opened the door.

"By the way; I would have estimated it would take 20 minutes, but I know that you are going to run the whole way there."

"You were right, I intend to."

"Have fun. Don't do anything stupid."

"I won't." I promised.

"Good."

True to my word, I sprinted as fast as I could toward the Kamiya's house. I ran out of breath before I was half way there, and had to slow down to a walk.

It struck me that this was the first time I'd been outside in over a day. I wasn't sure what to think of that, it was just vaguely strange to have been cooped up so much, and even stranger to have not realized it.

Finally, I found the energy to sprint again, and reached my destination, gasping for air, but where I had wanted to be for so long. I knocked on the door.


	8. Confessions

Ch 7: Confession

A/N: Sorry that it took me so long. I'm probably going to have to update less frequently, as I burned out while I was writing this chapter and couldn't write much for almost a week. I haven't had much of a chance to read this over, but to be honest, it's been an incredibly painful chapter to write, and I just want to publish it.

It was a few seconds before I heard footsteps. The footsteps were rather fast, as if the person who they belonged to was running. Then, the door swung open, revealing Kari, who looked almost as breathless I felt.

"Hi." She said. To me, it felt like such an understatement, but I wasn't sure what the right thing to say was.

So I responded in turn. "Hi."

A short awkward silence followed... and then we both burst out laughing.

"It's good to see you again." I said through the laughter.

"You too." She said.

"Why are we laughing, anyway?"

"I don't know." She replied, and we laughed even harder, "Come on in, no need to stand outside."

"Right." I said, stepping inside.

She closed the door behind me, and then said, "We may want to be a little more quit, my parents aren't awake yet."

"Alright." I said, stifling my laughter.

"You're alright." She said, smiling.

I smiled back. I wanted to throw my arms around her, but I knew I probably shouldn't do.

I remembered what I'd decided earlier, that I'd tell her how I felt. I didn't think it was the best time, but I wasn't sure there was a 'best' time, or even a 'good' time. But it didn't matter, I was having trouble even speaking her name.

"Yeah." I said. It was so lame of me. I wanted to say something, _anything_ to tell her how I felt. It was totally irrational, but I was filled with little fears. _What are you going to say?Are you sure that this is the best moment? _I chided myself.

_Yes._ I thought, _Yes, it is. _

It was vaguely funny, I was arguing with myself.

"So how are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm doing fairly well." I said, the distraction making me both grateful and irritated, "You?"

"Very well." She said.

_Might as well get it over with._ I convinced myself, and then began.

"Kari... I..." I mumbled.

"I can't hear you." She said.

"Never mind." I said, and then had the urge to bury my head in something.

She looked at me in this _way_. Like she was asking _are you sure?_

I nodded, subtly, so that she wouldn't notice unless she really was trying to convey something.

"Alright." She said, sounding vaguely disappointed.

Another awkward silence between us, much more awkward than before. This time, I didn't want to laugh.

"What I mean is..." I began, "I... I like you... As more than a friend."

She smiled, "Not now. Later. What's more important right now is that you have a roof over your head. And I'm not sure that you can stay if we're a couple."

"Is that a rejection?"

"_LATER, _damn it, T.K." She said.

"You're content to wait forever, aren't you." I said, "I can wait, but please, don't leave me hanging. At least tell me what you think of me."

"I like you too, T.K... But... I need to know you are safe. That's more important than anything else right now."

"Alright." I said, wishing I could throw my arms around her.

The room fell just silent as before, but the silence wasn't as awkward.

"How would waiting be anything new T.K?" She asked, sounding almost hurt.

I shook my head, "What was I supposed to do?"

"There were PLENTY of things you could have done. And don't even start about 'not being aloud.'" She said, glaring at me now.

"Look, I'm sorry. Honestly, though... it's not like _you_ did anything, either."

"True. But how would you have replied if I'd asked you out?" She asked, rolling her eyes, but at least no longer giving me the look of death.

"I would probably have said 'I'm not aloud to date.'" I admitted, "You understand that I was worried about our friendship, right?"

"I understand." She said, smirking.

"Fine, I'm a coward." I said, shrugging, "Is that what you want to hear?"

"No." She said, "I'm not sure what I want to hear, and I don't think I'm angry at _you_ per say. I'm angry that I still have to wait."

"It wasn't a good time?" I assumed.

"It was as good a time as any." She replied, smiling.

"Alright." I said, hugging her quickly and then releasing her.

"'Keru, please. Don't make this harder for me than in already is. We're not a couple, we can't be yet. Until I know you can stay if we are a couple, or you have somewhere else to stay." She said, hanging her head, "It's hard enough already. Please."

"Sorry." I said, wanting to hug her again, but resisting the urge.

"No problem." She said, "I'd do the same to you, but... Well, I guess I'm the one holding back in the first place."

"And you think its hard for _you_." I said.

"Well, it's not exactly _my_ fault you ran away, now is it?" She teased.

"You'd be surprised." I replied, myself surprised by the truth of my statement, "It's not your FAULT, but you certainly contributed to my decision."

"Oh really?" She challenged.

"Yeah. I mean, you weren't the ONLY reason, but you were an important reason. I was going to have to change schools, and that why I got a cellphone from Cody and made all the preparations that I did."

"And what does that have to do with me?" She asked.

"I didn't want to be separated from my friends, especially from you." I explained.

"It's still not my _fault." _She pointed out.

"True, true. I can't argue that." I admitted, "The _blame_ rests solely on my mother."

"Yeah, you had _nothing_ to do with it."

"I never said _that_." I pointed out, "I simply _implied _that I wasn't to _blame._ Blame is different from involvement, my behaviour may have led up to the conflict, but it wasn't _blameworthy_." I pointed out, proud of my logic.

"True enough, true enough." She conceded.

"Of course it is. I mean, _I _said it." I said, filling my voice with fake conceit.

She shoved me, "Oh, shut up."

I laughed, and shoved her back, "You."

"Fine, I will." She replied, smirking.

"Not like you _could._" I said.

She raised her eyebrows quizzically, and then proceeded to look away from me, and walk a couple of feet into the living room, where she sat down on a chair. I sat down next to her on the couch that was at about a ninety degree angle from the couch, with the arm of the chair that faced towards the wall which the couch sat against touching the arm of the couch.

"Are you ignoring me, or just trying to annoy me by being absolutely silent?" I asked.

"I'm be-" she began, and them laughed, "You win."

"As always." I said, and then laughed.

"Arrogance doesn't suit you well, runaway." She said, pretending to spit the word 'runaway'.

"I don't know. I look to be doing pretty well, I'd say."

She rolled her eyes, "Right, whatever you say."

We laughed, and then silence fell again.

"This is hard." I said.

"It is." She said, "It _was_ a bad time to tell me how you felt."

"I'm sorry, I guess." I said.

"Don't be." She said, and smiled, "It's just... I don't have any idea what the right thing to do is now."

I shrugged. I wanted her _now_, but at the same time, I _needed_ a roof over me. I might have proposed that we just not tell anyone, but I wasn't going to lie to Kari's family. They were providing me with a place to sleep, so I wasn't about to deceive them.

I decided that we both needed a distraction; this was way too difficult.

"So." I began, "You want to walk down to the park?"

"Sure." She replied.

So we both stood up, and after she'd written a note to her parents and gotten on her shoes, we left for the park.

"So, how's life been, runaway?" She teased.

"Fine... I've gotten much better at Super Smash Bro's." I joked.

"Really?" She asked, "And why is that?"

"Well, I had to do_ something_ with my time."

"True, and while almost poisoning yourself **does** pass the time, it's not an enjoyable way to do so, is it."

"No, not really." I said with a laugh.

She smiled, "It's really good to see you again, T.K."

I smiled back, "It's good to see you, too, Kari."

"You still want to write novels?" She asked.

"Yep." I said, "Not that I've had much of a chance to work on that much recently."

"Cool. Shame you don't get to write, though."

"You still into photography?" I asked.

"Yeah." She said, "Haven't gotten much of a chance to actually _use my camera_ recently. Too much homework taking up my time."

"Ouch. That's never any fun."

"Says the kid who's mother won't let him be a novelist." She replied, "I mean, I appreciate the sympathy and all, but I really should be feeling bad for you, not the other way around."

"While I agree that I deserve sympathy, that doesn't mean you _don't_." I pointed out.

"I guess." She said, as we finally arrived at the park.

"Hey, you want to go check out the rock?" I asked. The rock was where we'd always hung out when we were younger. It was in the wooded area behind the park, so it was always quiet, and we had never had to worry about anyone else... Which was nice when we had to deal with Davis, Tai, _and_ my mother.

"Sure." She said.


	9. Catastrophic

Chapter 8: Catastrophic

A/N: Hopefully, this makes sense, but I'm not sure how good my editing has actually been... Writing on the same piece for a long time is VERY hard.

Point of view Change:

"Of course, Ma'am. We'll bring your son back to you." I said, rubbing my hands together.

It had nothing to do with her son, of course. I was well aware that she'd kicked him out, he had not, as she had claimed 'run away, and then been kidnapped off the street.' One of the boys friends had reported what had happened only minutes afterwards, to protect the boy from being arrested. The boys friend had apparently believed that his mother was going to accuse the boy of vandalizing her home.

No, I was not here to be a hero. I was doing this because of the reward she was offering.

T.K's POV

We walked down to the rock where we'd been so many times before, into the wooded area where we could barely hear the cars rushing by on the street. The rock was covered in moss, and it had really been a landmark more than an attraction for us. We'd always met _near_ the rock, rarely right next to it. This time, however, we walked over to the rock, and then sat down.

There was about a forty-five degree angle between the directions the two of us were facing when first sat down. We could hear the birds chirp, and the kids in the park itself. This place was so familiar; it had been the only place that had been home for me in the recent years, when my house had not been my home.

"Thank you." I said to Kari.

"For WHAT?" She asked, confused.

"For giving me a place to go when I needed help over the last few years." I said, smiling, and turning towards her, "And for giving me a home away from home."

"Here?" She asked.

"Yeah." I said, here.

"You're welcome." She said, smiling.

And then we were silent. I had no idea what to think, or do, or even to want. Because I wanted to hug her. I wanted to kiss her. And yet, I didn't want to want these things; they seemed so reckless.

In a way, this was my downfall; I had wavered in my resolve, and thus I was doomed to give up. I blushed slightly, and I noticed she blushed, too. And then, she put her arms around me, whispering,

"Whatever. I give up."

I was suddenly wary; last time I'd thrown caution to the wind, I'd wound up with an awful hangover the next morning. However, I knew this couldn't possibly be that bad. It couldn't possibly hurt me, could it?

I threw my arms around her, not caring what the future brought. After all, the future was already uncertain, and all I wanted then was to love this girl, and for her to reciprocate that love.

When our eyes met, I felt almost hypnotized, and I leaned in towards her. And then our lips met, and then, we heard the sirens.

We pulled quickly away from one another, and I remembered that I was probably a fugitive. Because my mother would claim that I had run away. And because you could (barely) see the rock from the road, we had been sited.

Three police cars stopped in front of the park, and an officer emerged from each. They walked down the short road to where Kari and I were sitting.

We stood up, and began to trying to run. We didn't a chance.

"Hands up, now!" One officer shouted, and the other two came to back him up, guns pointed at me.

"I'm not doing anything illegal, why are you arresting me?" I asked, my voice not wavering as I had expected it to.

"I'm afraid this is a scandal." He said with a laugh.

"But if you know I'm innocent, then you won't shoot at me." I said, and continued walking. It was a huge gamble, but if it wasn't a good gamble, then I probably wasn't going to live to tell the tale anyway.

I made it half way to the line of trees before I felt a blast of pain, and then I suddenly had no control of my body, my muscles twitching. I collapsed to the ground, and then shock stopped.

"True, but I will apprehend you." He said. I realized he was holding a tazer to me.

I also realized that Kari was now standing between him and me.

"Run." She said, "They don't want me."

I struggled to get up, and broke into a sprint, before I tripped on a tree root.

Kari was sobbing, "I tried. I really did. But I can't take this either."

It dawned on me that I had the perfect tool in my pocket. It wouldn't help me now, but I could at least later I would have some weapon to get my revenge.

Without removing it from my pocket, I set my phone to record.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked, crying.

"Kid, your mother has threatened to 'expose' about how we, that is, the police force, have kidnapped you'... The office has refused to respond, but she's offered a huge reward for your 'release'." He replied, "So I'm after that."

"And what do you do if I report you to the proper authorities?" I asked, turning my phone off, when I felt hands roughly grab my arms.

"Who's going to believe you?" He asked, putting handcuffs on me.

I had the urge to laugh, but that would wreck my ploy. Plus, while I might get the last laugh, I wasn't especially well off right now.

Besides, I couldn't laugh. Because, I could here her cry.

"I'm sorry." She whimpered, "I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault." I tried to reassure her as I was shoved forcefully into one of the police cars, "You haven't done anything wrong."

But as the car drove off, she was still crying, and I wanted to sock the driver of the car.

"How can you do this?" I said, voice full of outrage, "Did you see what you've done to her? Did you see what you've done to me?"

"Kid, I've got a family to feed. I've got a wife to put a house over. I've got kids to put through college. They'll run an investigation, probably decide that you were kidnapped, and you'll get custody transferred to your father... which, I assume would you make you very happy. I know these things." He replied, "I've got no quarrel with you. But I need the money."

"You're assuming I won't get murdered." I replied.

"That's very unlikely." He said calmly.

"And what if I am?"

He shrugged, "You won't be. It's not going to happen."

And then, we were there. I was walked up to the front door, un-handcuffed, and then shoved me towards my mother.

"Go to your room." She said.

"No." I said.

"Taze him." She said to the officer at the door.

"Why should I?" He asked.

"Because I won't pay you if you don't." She said bluntly.

I was electrified painfully again, and then the pain stopped, again.

"I won't go." I said.

"Do it again." She said.

He did.

"Fine, I'll go. I'll go." I said, realizing there was no reason to fight here. I couldn't win, so I might as well fight another time.

As I walked up the stairs, I saw my mother handing the man something, presumably a large sum of money.

The moment the door shut behind me, I withdrew my phone from my pocket.

_DO NOT REPLY! Have been returned to Mom. Call Cody's home phone for me; I can't text him. _I texted quickly, and attached the two sound files, one of me originally getting kicked out as well as the one I'd recorded today.

I shoved the phone back in my pocket, and then looked at my window, hoping for some sort of escape. I tried to open the window, only to realize it was glued shut.

"Fuck." I swore.

My mind raced, searching for some sort of solution. Before I thought of anything, my phone vibrated.

"I told them not to reply." I muttered, and rolled my eyes, at least I was alone at the moment.

_Just turn off the sound for your phone :P Sorry for the reply, but I'm sure you had at least this much safe time. _The text read. It was Kari, and even if that hadn't been clearly displayed on my phone, I would have known because Matt probably wouldn't have used ':P' in this situation.

I took the advice, though, Kari was correct. I texted back, _have done so, good idea_ and then went on to text Matt, _feel free to reply. Sound for phone is off. _

I shoved the phone back in my pocket, and then resumed thinking. I could break the window, but I was still a floor up, and I had no idea how I was going to get down. I could simply walk though the door, but I had the feeling that wouldn't be so easy.

It would probably be a while before her the asshole who had put a whole new meaning to 'rent-a-cop' left, and I had the feeling that if she'd glued the window shut, she'd probably do something similar to my door.

In fact, it was fairly clear that she was had finally lost the last of her morality; she just couldn't stand losing this one, and she'd convinced herself that the whole world was out to get her. I had no idea what was to happen to me, but I wasn't sure I was going to survive in the end.

But, I wasn't about to surrender. It was a catastrophe among catastrophes, it was almost hopeless if not entirely so, but I would have hope to the end.

Still, this was catastrophic.

Kari's POV:

"I'm not lying!" I said, "How could I have faked the conversation?"

"I don't know." My mother said, "But even if what you are saying is true, there is nothing I can do to help T.K."

"Fine." I said, although it was hardly fine, "I'm going to take a walk. Maybe I'll calm down a little."

Of course, I wasn't going to calm down. But that didn't matter, I DID need to get out for a while. I didn't want her to see me cry, I didn't want to have to explain.

"Good plan. Just be back by dinner." She said.

A few moments after I left the house, my phone vibrated in my pocket, alerting me that I had a new text.

It simply read _I'm going in. Wish me luck -T.K_

I shivered with anticipation, and then texted back, _To hell with wishing you luck, I'm on my way._


	10. Chaos

Ch 9: Chaos

* * *

_ To hell with wishing you luck, I'm on my way._

I smiled as I read this. It was good to know I had backup in case things went worse than I expected. Of course, this was all assuming things went, and I saw no evidence of this. I couldn't get out the window, and I was fairly sure the door was locked.

I looked for something, anything to batter down the door with, and found absolutely nothing. Nothing other than a wooden chair. It was fairly solid, but I knew that I had little hope of actually breaking through the door.

Even so, I hefted it by the legs and swung it as hard as I could. I heard a shattering sound, flowed by a thunderous crash. The back of the chair had snapped off from the seat, and the door, which had actually been unlocked, had swung open hard into the wall.

I snapped the legs off the chair, throwing them against the carpeted floor of my room with a solid 'thud'. I now had a small shield, just in case.

I walked warily down the stairs, unsure what I would face. I tried to bring as much force as I could to my voice, announcing, "I'm leaving."

"No, you aren't. You are grounded for the rest of the year, you ungrateful little monster." My mother, who was standing next to the fireplace, replied.

"Actually, I _am_ leaving." I replied, beginning to walk slowly to the door, still holding my makeshift shield under my arm.

Walking slowly was a _huge_ mistake. It gave her time to pick up the fire poker and announce "I will. I'd rather have no son at all than a disgrace of a son like you."

I lunged for the door, only to realize that it was locked, and I was going to have a hell of a time opening it before my mother got to me. So I pulled the makeshift shield out from under my arm and gripped it by both sides, raising it to protect my neck and head.

As she reached me, my mother took a swing with the back of the fire poker. The swing was aimed at my right hand, probably in an attempt to make me drop the shield. I moved the chair seat a few inches to the right, intersecting her strike with it.

I hadn't realized how much force would be behind the attack, and, because I had failed to brace sufficiently, I almost dropped the shield. Instead, I just hit the door I was backed up against rather painfully. The shield shook in my hands, and the fire poker rung in my mother's hands. The seat was chipped slightly from the impact, but at least it had survived, and probably could survive several more such impacts.

I just had to hold out until Kari arrived, but I really had no time to be concerned by this. In fact, had almost no time to recover and brace myself properly before my mother took another swing. This time, however, I was prepared, and the strike wasn't half as hard as the first one, anyway, as it was clear that the first strike had caused her great discomfort due to the shaking of the bludgeon in her hands.

Even so, the strike was uncomfortable, and I really wasn't sure if I could keep this up for very long. I began to drop to a knee, to make bracing for impacts easier, due to the support of the ground. Midway through the drop, I had to intersect yet another swing, and I bashed my back into the door again, however, I persevered, and managed to take a knee.

* * *

Kari's POV:

* * *

I arrived, breathless, at T.K's house, and looked in the window, not expecting to see anything I wanted to. What I did see was worse than I had hoped, but far better than what I had expected and feared.

T.K was clearly alive, although kneeling, backed up to a door. He was holding what appeared to be the seat of a chair. It was riddled by dents, but he looked fine. His mother, however, was standing over him with a fire poker, trying to change his apparent health. Even as I watched, she took another swing, and T.K intersected it with his makeshift shield.

"Hold out just a little longer" I whispered, knowing perfectly well that he couldn't hear me. I then pulled out my phone and called Cody, who I'd called earlier during my run, to alert him as to the fact that T.K was planning to leave home.

"Where the hell are you?" I asked as soon as he picked up the phone.

"In my car. I'm about five minutes away, and Joe is with me. Is T.K alright?" Cody asked.

"For now, but that could change VERY quickly." I replied, thinking, _300 seconds. 300 seconds too long, but 300 seconds._

"Look, I have to keep driving, but don't do anything stupid. Stay put, it'll be hard enough to deal with one injury." Cody said.

"Alright." I lied, hanging up. I had no plans of staying put if things got bad.

And things very quickly did. T.K's mother took another swing at him with the bludgeon, and broke the wooden chair seat. Luckily, the weapon was still deflected, so T.K had a few moments at least.

I struck the window I was standing in front of as hard as I could, hoping to produce a distraction long enough for T.K to escape.

However, I misjudged my own strength, and my hand cleared the window. I almost withdrew it in time, however, some of my hand got caught in the rain of glass that followed, producing numerous painful lacerations on my hand.

I succeeded at producing a distraction, but it took longer than I had to spare. T.K's left hand was bleeding profusely. Considering its position, he had presumably been attempting to pick up a piece of his broken shield to defend himself with, and it had gotten caught between the ground and his mothers attempt to stop him from doing so with a swing with the bludgeon.

As his mother whirled around to face me, a look of pure rage in her eyes, T.K grabbed the poker with his right hand, attempting to wrestle it from his mothers raw hands.

I took the moments time to climb through the treacherous window. My clothing was torn in a few places by glass that remained on the windowsill, and my hand lacerated hand protested the whole way up, but I managed to clear the window.

I watched as T.K lost his grip on poker, and narrowly dodged a swing of the weapon.

The bludgeon shook in its wielder's hand, giving T.K enough time to grab a piece of the shield, and me enough time to run into the general vicinity and do similar.

"Get out." I said, "Cody will be here in a few minutes, and I think I can hold out for that long."

The bludgeon stopped ringing, and I wrestled with T.K's mother for the weapon, giving T.K enough time to narrowly escape. I knew I couldn't win the struggle, so instead, I turned and ran to the window.

His mother did exactly what I hoped she would do; she turned the poker over so she could use the point, and charged at me.

I ducked, grabbing it and pulling it out of her hands, and redirecting it so that it would fly out the window, and embed itself into the grass outside.

"You corrupted my son, you monster." She said, and pushed me, hard, into the wall. She then climbed through the window after the poker.

I turned to face her, hoping desperately T.K would be alright, and watched as a car pulled up on the side of the road.

T.K immediately opened the door, and I quickly ran around to the front door of the house, opening it, and running to enter the door of the car after T.K.

His mother charged at us with the poker, but we closed the door, and before either of us were buckled, Cody floored it. He stopped more slowly a good hundred meters away.

"Get buckled, now." He ordered, and I did, and looked at T.K.

He wasn't buckled. He wasn't moving to do so.

"Are you alright?"

No answer.

"What's wrong with him?"

"I think he's in shock, that is, emotionally." Joe said, "He'll be alright, but we still need to get him to the hospital for his hand... and probably you, for your hand."

"I'm fine." I lied. The lacerations on the back of my hand still were bleeding like crazy, and they still hurt like hell, but I would be just fine.

Joe shook his head, "You might well need stitches, your hand provides a massive risk of infection, and besides, you probably have glass embedded in your hand. Buckle him into his seat, please."

I did so, and we began the drive to the hospital.


	11. Order

Ch 10: Order.

A/N: Yeah, T.K's mother (Nancy. When do we learn her name?) is out of character. I didn't think anyone would care, because I thought that there wasn't a sufficient amount of information about the character for anything to be really called OOC. Also, I'm disappointed in you ALL :P The last three chapters names all started with the letter 'C' and no one noticed... or at least, no one mentioned noticing. I'm sorry if the chapter is choppy,

* * *

Kari's POV

* * *

When we arrived at the hospital, a stretcher was rushed out for T.K, and he was carried inside. I, being perfectly capable of walking and well past the point that stress would cause me to pass out, was allowed to walk under my own power inside. I was directed to an empty room, and told to lie down on the hospital bed in said room. A doctor came in to pick glass out of the wounds with tweezers, and then stitch the worst of the lacerations shut. The stitches hurt a little, but not as much as the wound did.

"Alright. We're going to want to observe you for thirty minutes, but you should be fine. You'll need to come back in two weeks, for the stitches to be removed. After they are removed, you'll have to keep a bandage on the wounds which they were in for two weeks or so." He explained, as he bandaged up the wounds on the back of my hand.

"Alright. I assume that I can't go visit my boyfriend, who is here because his hand got broken and because he passed out on the way here?"

"You should stay here." He said, and then left.

I sat up, blood rushing to my head, and looked around the dull room. It was small, almost claustrophobic. My hand hurt, and I didn't really have much to distract me from the pain. Worse yet, I had no idea how T.K was doing.

It hurt, not knowing. Because, for all I knew, he was dead. Even the thought tore deeply into me, into my very sanity. But he couldn't be. One, it was immensely unlikely. Two... I couldn't bear that. Mentally, I was healthy, I was stable. But if T.K was gone (which, I reminded myself, he wasn't), that alone would break me, and throw me into depression worse than the time I'd been to the Dark Ocean.

Because I'd been there with _him. He'd_ always been there for me when I'd needed him most. When the Dark Ocean had taken me, _he'd_ come after me, when no one else did. _He_ and I had experienced everything together. Of the oldest group, we'd been the youngest. Of the younger group, we'd been the veterans who'd already been battle hardened.

And thus, _he'd_ understood me, unlike anyone else. _He'd_ fought for me, when no one else could. And I loved _him_, in a way I could love only _him._

And if he was dead, or even seriously injured, it was _MY_ fault. If so, _I_ had failed to act in the way that he'd acted for _me._ Because_ I_ could have broken that window so much sooner. He could have gotten out sooner. We could have run until our ride arrived, warning them that we had needed to run.

I had failed him, in ways he'd never failed me. The question was only how much pain I'd caused him. It was certainly greater pain than he deserved. My heavy, shamed pondering was ended when I heard a voice.

"Are you alright?"

The voice was my mother's. I smiled a little, feeling loved.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said, still terribly downcast.

"You don't sound alright." She said.

"I'm fine. I'm just worried." I asserted. It wasn't really true, I wasn't really worried so much as I was terribly guilty, but it was all she really needed to know, or so I thought.

"I know what worried looks like, this isn't worried." Mom said, with a knowing smile.

"I'd rather not talk about it."

"Alright... You saved T.K's life, you know. You are a hero." She said.

"I'm no hero. I could have acted so much sooner!" I snapped, and then lowered my head, "And you don't need to be yelled at, you are only trying to make me feel better."

My mother looked at me quizzically, as if she didn't understand, "You saved his life either way. Why does it matter when you acted?"

"Because he's injured." I replied, thinking it was painfully obvious.

"But he's alive." She was still confused some how.

"He'd have done more for me." I answered, feeling vaguely sulky now.

"What more could he have done than what you did for him? You risked your life to save his." She asserted.

"I guess." I said, "I... I just wish I could have done more."

It was then that Cody entered the room.

"T.K is conscious." He said.

"Is he alright?" I asked, glad that he was, at least, alive.

"Well, aside from a broken left hand, he's fine. He wanted to know if you were alright, so I'm going to have to go tell him that you are fine. Sorry I couldn't stay longer, but if I stay too long, he might convince himself that I had bad news that I didn't want to come back and give him." Cody answered.

"Alright." I said.

* * *

T.K's POV:

* * *

"Where is he?" I asked, worried. Cody still wasn't back from checking on Kari, and I felt a guilty that Kari was injured. After all, she'd risked her life for me, because I'd made a mistake, and impulsive decision... well, actually, a number of impulsive decisions.

First, I'd run away. It'd been the right choice, but I hadn't planned it out as carefully as I might. Secondly, I didn't think that I might well be a fugitive, and so I'd thrown caution to the wind and thus I'd gotten sent back to my mother. And then, rather than carefully planning out my escape, I'd tried to run away immediately.

I mean, we could have had Cody there in the very beginning. Matt, who now stood over my bed, could have been there, too. Kari could have been there from the beginning, too, rather than arrive just in the nick of time.

"It's only been 5 minutes, T.K. Calm down." Matt said, jokingly adding, "Your girlfriend is fine."

"How did you know she was my girlfriend?" I asked, missing his tone of voice.

"I was kidding... Wait, she's..." He began, and then laughed, "Took the two of you long enough."

"Oh." I said, and then laughed, "What do you mean, took us long enough?"

"T.K... How you felt about her was very, very obvious." Matt explained, "And she pretty obviously was equally infatuated with you."

"And why did no one tell me she like me... and no one tell her how I felt about her?" I asked, feeling almost cheated that no one had told me in the years since I'd fallen in love with her. All those times when I'd needed someone to talk to, all those hours when I'd cried alone, with the whole world seeming to collapse down on me... to know that it hadn't needed to be that way was terrible, and infuriating.

"Because you wouldn't have believed us. Because we knew both of you valued the friendship you had and might have rejected one another. Because it would never have been as real for either of you.

"Fair enough." I admitted. He was correct, after all. I resented that he was correct, that it had taken me years to realize I couldn't lie to myself about my feelings and just hope they'd go away, but my resentment didn't make him any less right, nor did it have the ability to change the past. He hadn't told me, and no one Kari knew had told her, and both Kari and I were going to have to live with that.

Finally, Cody walked into the room, "Aside from some lacerations on the back of her right hand, she's fine."

I sighed with relief.

"Good." I said, feeling mostly relieved. I just wanted to see her now, to hold her in my arms, to tell her that I was sorry for acting so impulsively, sorry for putting myself in danger... and that I was immensely grateful for her helping me.

"Did she look angry?" I asked, a little worried.

"Angry? No, she looked kinda guilty." Cody replied, confused by my question.

I was equally confused by his answer. Why would she feel guilty? She'd just saved me. She was a hero.

"Uh... Alright." I said, very confused, "Hey, Matt. What happens to me now?"

"Dad get's custody of you, and unless Mom is found innocent, you get to stay with him."

"Good." I said, relieved, "When can we leave?"

"Now, if you want... I mean, I can take you to Dad's place, and..." Matt began.

"I think I want to visit Kari first." I cut him off.

"I have to go too." Cody said, "I'll take Joe home, if he needs a ride."

"Yeah." Joe said, "T.K, see a psychologist if you having repeated nightmares about today if they haven't stopped in a couple weeks. You are at risk of PTSD."

"Right." I said. Normally, I would have dismissed Joe's comment as hyperventilating paranoia, however, his warning sounded completely reasonable here.

"Yeah... And don't trying playing basketball with the cast." Cody said, with a laugh, and then left the small room.

I laughed, and then Matt and I left the room, and Matt lead me to where Kari was currently sitting up on the hospital bed, half way across the hospital from where I'd been. Kari's mother already visiting her, and I couldn't help but smile knowing that she hadn't been alone this whole time.

"Hey." I said, not sure what to say. She'd just saved my life, and I loved her. I didn't know how to state the first part of this, and I was unwilling to say the second in front of so many people.

"Hi." She said.

"So..." I began, pausing to try to figure out how best to express the enormousness of my gratitude, "Uh... Thanks."

"Thanks? I hesitated! I could have done for you! I..." She began.

"You saved my life." I said, cutting her off, "You did the largest possible favor for me."

"But, you would have done the same for me." She protested, "You HAVE done the same thing for me, except when you saved ME,_ I_ didn't come out of it injured."

"As may be, there are no debts between friends." I replied, "So I still have the right to be grateful."

"'Friends'?" Kari laughed.

"'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend' both contain the word 'friend." I pointed out.

"I like the sound of that." She said, with a smile.

"I would say the same, but I would be saying I liked what I said, which would be both redundant and self-congratulatory." I said, with a small laugh.

She laughed too, "Alright. Well, I want to go home and relax, but I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Sure." I said, and Matt and I left for my father's house, which was now to be my home.

* * *

A/N: Yes, I used 'hero' as gender neutral. That was intentional.


	12. Epilogue

Epilogue: On an impulse (reprized)

A/N: Open Office is having fun changing my documents language to 'English(Canada).' That's really annoying. Note that this is the last chapter in this part of the story arch. I may or may not later decide to write a sequel. I have a conflict which I still have unresolved from this story, which would make up a story of its own. However, I currently want very much to get away from this story and may decide never to write the sequel.

* * *

Kari's POV

* * *

"So... How long have the two of you been going out?" My mother asked, and I realized that I had told her that T.K and I had been 'Only friends' when I'd been trying to convince her to take T.K in for a few days.

"Only a few hours. I swear, I didn't lie to you. T.K and I were only friends when you asked." I said, blushing. It was _true_, but I probably should have told her sooner that what I had previously said was no longer true.

She just rolled her eyes, "I'd say that you were lying, but I really don't care right now. I'm just glad you are safe and sound."

I smiled, glad that I didn't have to argue with her right now. Normally, I would have seen that as an accusation of lying, and been offended, but right now, I just wanted to get home.

* * *

T.K's POV

* * *

As I got into the passenger seat of Matt's car, I swept with relief. I was both safe and free. I had started with safety, and willingly given it up for freedom. Getting it back had been pricey, although mostly because of my sheer impulsiveness.

Had I planned in the beginning, I would have had somewhere to run to in the first place. But, in my impulsiveness, I hadn't called Kari to make sure she was home, learned she wasn't, and then called Cody. I'd done that once I was outside, drenched in the cold.

Then again, I probably wouldn't have run away in the first place had I known that Kari wasn't home, instead, I probably would have opted to wait two days. But if I'd done that, I'd never have met Johnathan, and I wouldn't have spent the night with Cody.

And, had I not spent the night with Cody, I might never have found the courage to tell Kari how I felt. I really couldn't second guess my first decision; my entire life was built in a perspective around it.

But I should have known better than to make the same mistake again, and learned to control my impulsiveness. Today, though, I'd proved I hadn't learned my lesson, and rushed in to deal with my mother.

Had I spent ten minutes thinking about it first, I could have had Matt and Cody there as backup from the very beginning. But instead, I'd rushed headlong to confront what I felt was the 'evil' in this situation, without first thinking through the consequences.

And, in doing so, I'd gotten trapped in a situation in which I was overpowered. Had Kari not have come to save me, I wouldn't have lived to tell the tale. Even as it was, I was responsible for my own broken hand, and her injured hand.

I could forgive myself for making a mistake that caused me injury. In a way, making mistakes was my right, as long as I learned from them... And, while I might not have a great track record at learning from my mistakes, I had the feeling that this one would be hard to ignore. But I _couldn't_ forgive myself for making a mistake that led to the injury of another, especially if the 'other' was Kari.

Matt snapped me from my contemplation by asking, "What's up?"

"Just taking it all in, you know?" I said, buckling myself into my seat, face flushing with embarrassment as soon as I realized I'd been holding up our ability to leave, "Sorry."

"No problem. Had it been one, I'd have said something sooner. Close your door."

"Right." I said, closing the door.

I suddenly realized that the sun was still well above the horizon, and felt extremely disoriented. It felt like the middle of the night to me, and yet it was still day.

"So, how are you feeling?" Matt asked as he started the car. He sounded a little concerned, and I did understand why, after all, I'd had my hand broken today, and then I'd passed out.

"Well, my hand hurts a good bit, and I'm very disoriented by the fact that the sun is still up." I admitted, and then continued "Other than that, though, I'm fine."

"Good. I mean, your hand hurting is to be expected, but it's good to know you are alright other than that." Matt said, sounding almost as relieved as I felt, as we finally left the hospital parking lot.

The time between then and when we arrived at our father's house was mostly quiet, as neither of us knew quite what to say.

As we got out of the car, an irrational fear crept through me. I felt as if i was imposing myself upon my father. Of course, this made absolutely no sense, but I had already acknowledged to myself that it was irrational.

That said, I had no idea what was going to happen next, so a little fear made sense in context. Still, this felt like the wrong kind of fear to have. After all, I really hadn't chosen to impose myself here, and my father had always been grateful to have custody of me in past.

We reached the front door, and Matt unlocked the door and opened it. As we walked in the door, my father greeted us, saying, "Sorry I couldn't be at the hospital. I had work that had to be done."

Matt and I exchanged amused glances; he ALWAYS thought he had work that 'had' to be done, or at least that he thought had to be done.

Even so, this was just the way he was, and it was fairly easy to deal with.

"It's cool." I replied, "Have you set up a place for me to sleep yet?"

"Not yet" My father replied.

"Alright" I said, "I'll just take the couch in the guest room. I need to rest for a while now... I'm exhausted." The guest room was my room whenever my father had custody of me. It was upstairs, and had a couch, which could be unfolded to become a bed, and a television.

"Alright, should I wake you up for dinner?" Matt asked.

I was hungry, although I'd been altogether too distracted to realize it previously. Had I not been as hungry as I was I would have declined this offer; all I really wanted to do was sleep. However, at the moment, I was hungry enough that I probably wouldn't be able to sleep through the night, so I accepted the offer.

"Yes, please do." I said.

I might have contemplated what I'd done and what had happened to me more, but I fell asleep almost as soon as I lay down on the couch.

I had a dream closely resembling the fight I'd actually had with my mother, from beginning to end. This would be the only time I would ever have this dream, and I would learn later that re-experiencing an event, so long as it didn't happen repeatedly, was actually an important part of healing psychologically.

I awoke when Matt gently opened the door, and announced quietly that it was dinner.

"T.K." he said, "Wake up, dinner is ready."

"Thanks." I mumbled, as I slowly stood up.

"No problem" Matt said, beginning to walk back downstairs to the dining room. I followed him, and sat down for dinner directly across from Matt.

"You OK?" Matt asked, noticing how tired I was.

"Yeah, I'm just a little tired. I _did_ just wake up, though."I replied.

"Just making sure." Matt said.

"Thanks... the sarcasm was unwarranted, wasn't it." I apologized.

"It's fine, you're tired, I understand." He said.

"Seriously, though. Thanks." I said.

"No problem." Matt said.

We didn't really talk for the rest of the meal, although this was probably because Matt and Dad were to worried about me to really start a conversation not involving me, and I was to tired (and hungry) to engage in conversation.

When we were done eating, I went back to the guest room, but this time sleeping wasn't half as easy. I wasn't as tired,because I'd slept a little already.

On top of this, I couldn't stop thinking about Kari. I wanted to know how she was doing, as well as talking to her one last time before I slept.

I finally gave up on just falling asleep without at least texting her, so I did so.

_You still awake?_ I typed, not wanting to wake her up in case she was as tired as I was.

About a moment later, her reply arrived.

_Yeah, barely._ the text read.

I smiled, and sent her another message. _Alright. Just wanted to say "good night"._

Her reply was _Good night _with a heart made out of a less than sign and a three. _  
_

I smiled, and fell asleep only a few minutes later still smiling.

* * *

A/N: And... it's done. This chapter was written in a plane. In a car. On my brand new Droid. On my laptop. In Georgia, Washington, and Florida! No, really. That's because I'm on vacation. I wanted to type the less than sign and the three, only fanfiction[dot]net kept eating my less than sign... it probably thought I was trying to use HTML code... and the sites document editor deletes its own name...

Hopefully the chapter makes sense. I read it over, but I'm fairly tired right now, so I could have missed something very important.


End file.
